Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga

Chapter 14: Lagnis Lien da Levien

Lagnis Lien da Levien. That was Levi’s real name.

Lagnis should be her first name. And it probably was a format where Lien was her house name and Levien was the name of a fief or a region. I was taught that the kingdom’s nobles wrote their names like that. 

They also attached ‘da’, or ‘tusin’, and all sorts of other things on to them, but Asileye taught me that they ultimately meant something close to ‘of~’ in ancient languages. And among them, the thing called ‘tusin’ was something permitted only to upper nobles with revered history even among the nobles, and those people didn’t particularly add on something like the names of their fiefs. They ‘were great just by their houses’, so they said? She said those kinds of nobles were usually crowded around the capital.

Levien wasn’t a region but a fief name. It was located together with Ogwen here in the Seville Region of the kingdom’s South, and like my village had been completely blown away clean by the Demon King Army. That I did more or less hear about the first time we met, but…

To think the person herself was actually the child of the lord who oversaw that fief.

“I had spare time thanks to your help, and I sent a letter to my teacher with the money I’ve saved up little by little.”

She had shown talent in magic since she was young. Her father and the lord of Levien, who had taken close attention to this, had asked around through his connections for a mage who could become her teacher, and she said they luckily had chanced a meeting with a rather famous mage. The mage did have a slight flaw of impulsively wandering off here and there and enlisting students, but was with no question a celebrity instructor of the kingdom who was both passionate about fostering the younger generation and had made each and every student he taught greatly succeed.

Same with the mage who visited my village long ago, it looked like mages were unexpectedly passionate about raising students.

“That’s because there are factional fights among nobles. In fact, it looks like he received my letter right when things were fully heated on how to handle our fief.”

Her teacher immediately tried to notify the council of the kingdom’s nobles that she was definitely alive. It sort of felt like a school teacher getting dragged into a family problem, but apparently the teacher-apprentice relationship of mages wasn’t that simple a system. Although something like simply receiving a teaching was freely done in any shape or form, forming the tie of teacher and apprentice was in no way done lightly nor simply.

According to her, the very first teacher-apprentice relationship of the mages wasn’t only that of studying and advancing the discipline of magic while alive, but also in some cases a one of taking and continuing on the teacher’s studies and further honing out their path forwards. Although there had been few changes in its long history, due to being built upon such a foundation, the teacher-apprentice relationship was like a family connected through mana. So long as tied together as a teacher and an apprentice, even in the kingdom’s laws the two weren’t treated as non-relatives, so that alone said enough.

There were even cases where a teacher transferred all their wealth and rights to their apprentices despite there clearly existing a child of their own, and there also were cases where the children didn’t pursue any legal action about that. Other things aside, it definitely wasn’t a subject that I could dare carelessly judge with just my own knowledge.

Anyway, things up to that point were fine, but the problem was with other nobles who were connected with her house.

Simply put, in the middle of a fiery political fight between the king’s faction and the nobles’ faction, a fucking squabble to absorb Lien House’s remaining fortunes and rights and even gain a pretext for it was boiling up.

Due to the fight between the King faction, who considered her missing and said that they had to search for her since her corpse hadn’t already been found unlike the rest of her family, and her far away noble relatives in the Noble faction, who were trying to assert a thing called a rightful ownership of the neglected fortunes and rights since it was clear she was already dead, even her teacher couldn’t help but hesitate.

“Because my father was of the King faction, and because I was also taught the same.”

She wasn’t an adult just yet. Therefore, it was possible for the side that secured her first to brandish everything including her right to speak under the name of protection. It was certain that the Noble faction would roam around with bloodthirsty eyes if she were to confirm her survival in the middle of that mudfight, and Levi’s teacher, who through several letters agreed to respect Levi’s wish to not enter into the Noble faction’s hands, decided to publicly meet her in Ogwen the day she turned adult.

But their tail was caught. Even though the King faction had no reason to search for her since they had already finished talking with her teacher, she found out that someone was searching around for her.

She couldn’t reschedule the date since their only means of communication were letters, and because the planned ‘public meeting’ wasn’t simply her teacher coming alone and meeting her but instead a type of show aimed at the public’s eyes, with the mage personally coming to get her together with the soldiers sent by the King faction’s people, she couldn’t move to another city either.

“That’s quite a grand playscript.”

A heroic return of an ill-fortuned noble girl who had lost her parents to the demons, had run away from the Noble faction’s persecution, and had hid away for 3 years for the glory of the King faction and her house. And the mage and the soldiers to parade her. Even if a countryside noble, did one become valuable enough to do this much if completely annihilated by the Demon King Army?

If I hadn’t met Asileye, then I too might’ve gotten used for a similar propaganda.

“A playscript…? You’re understanding it way too quickly. Were you perhaps also a noble?”

“No. It’s ‘cause Eldmia of over 30 years of mental age has comprehended all of the entire world.”

“You’re dodging the question again.”

Even as she grumpily spoke, Levi, no, Lagnis drew a small smile. That for some reason looked pitiful, and so I ruffled her hair once and she grumbled at me to stop.

“So what I thought up was this. If a noble, they will never look at me right now and think I’m Lien House’s daughter.”

“That would be right if they’ve ordered a servant or someone else to search, but… if it’s something important enough for the King faction to move like that, then the Noble faction also won’t use a naive way to search for you. At the least, wouldn’t it be logical to think that someone who knows your face is coming, too?”

Even though 3 years of time had passed, it wasn’t as if her face had changed a lot. Most of all, them coming directly to Ogwen meant that they had clearly caught onto her tracks. Or possibly that there was a spy who could read the letters’ contents in the middle.

“Father didn’t even talk very much with our Noble faction relatives. There shouldn’t be many people who know my face.”

“It’s that there exists someone who knows your face that’s important. In this case, it’s correct to move assuming that the person who can recognize you is definitely coming.”

It was only possible to make preparations by assuming the worst, and moving with vague, wishful thinking was always bound to face the worst.

“Actually, in a case like this it’s better to openly leave alone the things you can easily hide. It’s not like you’re the only redhead in the world, after all. Rather, if you were originally a redhead but dyed it, then they’ll suspect you first. I’m not sure about the nobles, but commoners don’t consider dyeing as makeup.”

“Eh?! Really?”

“What’ll I even get by bullshitting you? It’s better to think up the next move in that time.”

“That’s right, but… are you going to help me?”

At that sight of her asking my intention with a weirdly cautious face, I unconsciously creased my brows into a cross.

“Or what, abandon you? Of course I’ll help. Did you perhaps forget it already?”

“Eh? Eh?”

“Absolutely do not touch Eldmia Egga.”

That didn’t solely mean to leave me alone. It meant don’t bullshit at me and everyone related to me.

“If one wants to formally visit, one must bring at the least an official paper and have a public history of reputable activities. In that sense the King faction and your teacher’s actions are satisfactory. If even they tried to take you away with them before you became an adult, then I would’ve told you to run away instead.”

But they spoke of after she had become an adult. I didn’t know how much fortune and rights she had left, but it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they were a complete opposite of the Noble faction that, right now, was stealthily searching around like this.

“Not doing so means they got something shady to hide, and having something shady to hide means they can use unlawful means when facing an obstacle, and that means things could easily lead to violence.”

There’s no official announcement even though there’s a rumor going around the village people’s mouths? That meant that they were searching around at a level of mercenaries and adventurers asking around about the rumor. And quieting down even that rumor meant that the moods of the people in question were unfriendly, unfriendly enough for them to fear even letting off such a rumor.

It was also possible for them to order people to violently kidnap her, kill everyone hired during the recontacting phase, and say that they rescued her and then turn around and attempt to falsely accuse the entire process on the King faction. For them, it was a situation where they could do anything so long as they could get to her first.

“Do you really think I’ll just leave them be when they’re threateningly approaching in that shitty way to the brat living in Ogwen’s Alisha’s Inn and I’ve even personally gone out and found a place for?”

I once more ruffled Lagni’s hair as she blankly stared at me, but this time she didn’t react.

Considering how she was a noble, it wasn’t simply a level of her family and neighbors dying like mine, but everything she owned getting erased. That fief was her house’s, and whether by her continuing the house or by marrying into another, it should have become her backing and continue on.

This was a brat who, even after losing all that, had ultimately stood back up again and struggled on until now, throwing aside even her status and working and smiling among commoners. She was a neighbor I was proud to boast about anywhere. Things might change if she left following the King faction and the time passed on just like that, but that wasn’t now.

“No one can touch Eldmia Egga as they wish anymore.”

It would change depending on the other party’s attitude, but if they act like shit, then they would see shit.

Fucking shit whoever that touches tiny Eldmia will get fucked.

Fucking fucking fucked.

TL note: I’m finally back. Next chapter will be up at a more regular schedule, and I’ll set up a thread or similar to regularly update to you my schedule soon. Thank you very much for your patience.